


Exiles: Across the Multiverse

by ShootToMiss



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ben 10 Series, Exiles (Marvel), Godzilla - All Media Types, Metroid Series, Naruto, One Piece, Red vs. Blue, Samurai Jack (Cartoon), Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe, Any Parallel, Even other fanfiction, Multiverse, Parallel Universes, Reality Hopping Heroes, any time, any world, far more fandoms than I listed above, with permission of course
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23045446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShootToMiss/pseuds/ShootToMiss
Summary: Six people suddenly appear in a desert, all with unique abilities, where a individual closely bonded with time tasks them with saving the multiverse. Sounds familiar, right? But this doesn't just stop at the Marvel Multiverse. Join the Exiles as they travel to any and all fictional universes and alternate worlds, fighting to save timelines while hopefully saving themselves as well.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	1. Prologue: Reality Hopping Heroes

**Author's Note:**

> (Posted in conjunction with my fanfiction account DoctorWhoDat, since the tagging system works to this story's favor far better here)
> 
> The latest story I’ve been working on. Ever since Linkara did his retrospective on the comic of the same name, I’ve been fascinated with the concept, wanting to do something similar to it.
> 
> So without further ado, I present to you… the Exiles.

“If anyone were to try and explain what was laid out before them, they would never be able to do so accurately. This is a dimension that appears unstable to the mortal eye. The skies shift around and constantly change color, and rocks float about everywhere. Strange constructs move through this place, ones that can’t quite be put into words. Their shapes are too abstract for such a thing.”

“What is here is also not here. It exists outside of the conventional universes you know, but it is not nonexistent. It is not the void. Merely a plane on which only those with great understanding of the 4th dimension may traverse into easily. A thin layer that connects all other dimensions to each other, existing between the borders of reality and the nothingness beyond universes, but also being separate from them at the same time. This is what tethers all of existence together.”

“And me? Well, I’m just visiting. I’m no one important really. Well, not to you anyway. To some, I’m an advisor, an ally, a friend. Yet to others, I am an enemy, an interloper, a suppressor. But to you? Well, perhaps you’ve seen me in a story or two before, but other than that, I’m afraid we’ve have no acquaintance with each other.”

“Still, that’s no reason to be hostile. Come in, I’ll pour you some tea. Not really, the closest thing to tea here is the primordial ooze that slips out and kickstarts a brand new universe every once in a while. Even so, I know you’ve come a long way to be here, to find a great story that expands beyond anything you’ve seen before. And while I won’t be so arrogant as to say I have what you seek, I’d at least like to throw my hat into the ring. So, sit down, and I’ll tell you what I have to offer.”

“My name is Professor Paradox. I was like you at some point, until one little mishap in the lab gave me quite the adventure. Since then, I’ve been able to go anywhere in time I please. In any dimension, I might add. These abilities have gained me the attention of certain individuals, who wield the same knowledge of time and space as I. We have made it our mission to protect the time-space continuum of the greater omniverse, in any way we can.”

“A vow that has never been more tested than it has now. As of recent, the omniverse has been under attack by an unseen force, destroying dimension after dimension. At the same time, eldritch beasts have been released to feast on time and space itself, to distract us from investigating. Luckily, we have noticed a solution to our problem. Individuals from various timelines have been put in jeopardy, their deaths premature thanks to the damage done on their worlds. Normally, my acquaintances and I could repair such damage given time. But even with out understanding of it, we cannot do so while the eldritch horrors run amok, especially with so many universes in disrepair. So I came up with an idea. What if there was a way they could help themselves?”

“They entertained me on the idea, and well… you know, perhaps it is better to show you the fruits of my labor. Here, look into my pocket watch. You will see how this story unfolds… Take all of it in… see the sights that you have yet to see… and hear the words that will grace you ears…”

* * *

“God Fucking Dammit.”

An apparition in blue futuristic armor looked around, seeing nothing but desert. He sighed in frustration, before mumbling angrily. 

“I swear to fucking Christ, if those assholes brought me back to life again, I’m gonna rewire the nearest nuclear missiles to be launched on top of their heads. Can’t I ever die in peace?” Church, the very angry Artificial Intelligence, began walking through the sands. This was in spite of the fact that he was nothing more than a hologram, a human shaped piece of solidified light, and could honestly have just floated across. It would probably be faster. But after believing he was human for so long, some habits were hard to shake.

It did make him wonder… he needed some kind of electrical device to connect to so he could project this image. Considering there was nothing but sand everywhere, it begged the question of why his hologram was showing up at all. “Did they put me in some kind of epsilon unit again? God, I hope not… I am so not fucking doing simulations again to “discover” something about myself. Can’t take the chance of seeing a female Caboo-”

“HIYAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“WHAT THE SHIT?!”

A screaming voice startled the A.I., snatching his attention up into the sky. A sleek figure was quickly coming down at him. Church shielded himself, only to remember that it was pretty pointless to do so as the person passed right through him.

Church stared at the new arrival and returned to being annoyed. It was a girl, wearing some kind of strange striped shirt, green and… what was Tucker’s armor color? Anyway, she had short hair, and really intense eyes. Oh, and of course, her other hand was a pitch black axe tentacle.

“Who the fuck are you?” It was pretty much how he’d greet any other person.

“Silence, phantom! I don’t know why you’ve brought me here, but I’m giving you one chance to send me home. Otherwise, I’ll show you just how well I can handle ghosts.”

“Oh yeah, cause it worked so fucking well the first goddamn time.”

“I said quiet! Now do as I say and send me home, apparition!” She lifted her axe hand up to his face.

Church merely stared at her awkwardly for a while. When she lifted an eyebrow, he gave his response.

“Boo, motherfucker.”

“Ok, that’s it-”

As she lunged again, a blade blocked her path, clashing with her sharpened arms. The shapeshifting woman looked to see who her obstacle was, stunned to find a blue haired woman in a black tank top and brown capris blocking her attack with her katana. 

“You’ve got an odd body. Some kind of Devil Fruit, maybe?”

“Wha- who are you? What are you going on about?” She narrowed her eyes. “Doesn’t matter. If either of you had anything to do with my being here, then…”

“I don’t have anything to do with it. Maybe cool off and stop attacking everything you see.”

 **“Could any of you three possibly shut up? I can hear your threats and cursing from several dunes away.”** The two were distracted by another new voice, finding the source stepping up to the sandy hill they currently resided on. His appearance was certainly more intimidating- though humanoid in nature, his entire body was pitch black, with red technological lines all over. In the center of his face was a red circular outline. It “blinked” (as in, flashed on and off) as he spoke. **“I don’t suppose any of you morons know where we are? I have things to do, and being stuck in a desert is a delay I’d rather not go through. My scans aren’t showing anything useful.”**

“Uh huh. Scan the desert. I think that sand particle over there did it.” Church said sarcastically.

 **“Watch it, A.I. They may understand jack squat about you, but I assure you I’m perfectly capable of snuffing you out.”** The techno-man lifted up his hand, a glow coming from it.

“Try me, Terminator. I’ll rewrite your brain to make it so you castrate yourself once a day.”

The girl pointed her axe hand at the red-eyed intruder. “Perhaps you’re the one who brought me here. You certainly have the right personality for it. And certainly, more ability to do so…”

“Yeah, fuck you too.” Church said to the side of her, catching the insult.

“Think your mouth is a substitute for a weapon since you can’t touch anyone, hmm?” The blue haired girl smugly quipped. Church only flipped her off in return.

 **“Keep pointing your toothpick at me and I’ll torch you like a marshmallow.”** The techno-man threatened, his two arms turning into cannons.

“This “toothpick” has cut down far worse than you, monster.”

**“Oh really? Has it cut down something superior to a monster?”**

Blue-haired girl interrupted. “Bragging means nothing. Even a lowly thief with a dagger can prove far more with action than mouthing off.”

Shapeshifter girl smirked. “Something you should remember, creature.”

**“She was directing that at both of us, twit.”**

“Uh hey, do sand clouds usually move like they’re about to run someone over?” The other two turned to Church, confused at his question. Following his eyes- er, visor, they spotted said dirt cloud barreling towards them at high speeds.

**“I’m detecting life signs in that dirt cloud. A girl. Judging by her movements, she’s controlling that sand. Clearly a geomancer.”**

“Hey, could you maybe say it in English?”

The shapeshifter girl stepped forward, rolling her eyes. “He’s saying she can control the earth.”

Church snorted. “So she can chuck rocks and throw sand in your face. Whoop de fucking doo.” 

“You won’t be so dismissive once there’s a rock in your crotch.” A somewhat diminutive voice said as the girl skidded to a halt in front of them. Her hair was done up in a circular shape. She wore no shoes, but wore a set of crude looking metal armor. However, the biggest thing the four noticed was her faded eyes…

**“Blind as a bat. Means you found some other way to see, since your eyes are so useless, hmm?”**

Church looked at him. “Wow, dude. Really gonna make fun of her being blind?”

Green shirt girl scowled. “Don’t you have any shame?”

Blind girl snorted. “Eh, let em. He’ll find out soon enough how well I can see.”

He scoffed in response. **“Is that why your heart rate spiked for a second when you heard four voices instead of three?”** The blind girl scowled at him.

“Man, you just hit all of the “I’m a fucking villain” buttons, don’t you?” Church snipped.

**“I try my best.”**

“More like you try too hard, bozo.” Blind girl snipped back.

“He surely wants to look bigger than he really is.” Shapeshifter girl said.

The blue-haired woman simply sighed. 

**“Look who’s talking. Green shirt clearly wants to sound more regal than she actually is.”**

“Yeah, I’m experienced enough with anger to know you clearly want to rip us all to shreds.” Church bluntly stated.

“It seems all of us have been brought here against our wills.”

The five turned to find yet another person sitting on the sand, a young man. He kept one eye closed while staring at them with the other. He had a blue short-sleeved jacket, and black shorts that went slightly below his knees, with blue sandals to match. He too carried a sword, shorter and straighter, and his black hair spiked out in the back.

 _“He wasn’t there a second ago…”_ Both the Blind girl and Techno-man thought in surprise.

“Shinobi…” The shapeshifting girl stated.

The blue-haired girl simply eyed him in suspicion.

Church just threw up his arms in exasperation. “Well, that’s just fucking great. A ninja, a chick with a sword, a shapeshifter, a rock whisperer, a robot, and an A.I. What a colorful bunch we are. Maybe you all can duke it out while I watch.”

“No one here has need to fight, Leonard. You are all here for the same reason.”

The six turn their attentions one last time to one last source, this time an older looking man in a white lab coat, with goggles around his neck. He held a pocket watch in his hand, which he was currently using to inspect the time.

“Apologies for being so casual, Church. Moving throughout all of space and time not only messes with verb tenses, but you also never know who’s going to recognize you and who isn’t. Have we met?”

Church groaned. “Shit, not time travel again… not after last time…”

However, Techno-man actually seemed to recognize the man. **“Professor Paradox…”**

“Wait, what? Is that seriously his name?” Blind Girl asked.

“A silly name isn’t it? Though I suppose it fits considering my silly nature.” The group suddenly found the Professor behind them. “Though we could laugh about it for a while, I’d much rather get to the point now. I require assistance from all of you.”

“So… you brought us to a desert?” The sword girl asked incredulously.

“Not really. I just wanted to see if certain people recognized the setup.” He winks before pressing the button on his stopwatch, teleporting all of them away.

The seven re-appeared around a large table, a seat for each of them around it. Paradox was already sitting down, and he gestured to the other chairs. “Come now, we have much to discuss.”

“Now hold on a fucking second.” Church snapped. “I’m not doing anything else until you tell me who the fuck you are and how you got us here.”

 **“He’s a time traveler, obviously.”** The other five looked to Techno-man. **“He was a scientist doing experiments with time. A miscalculation one night sent him hurdling into the event horizon of the time-space continuum itself. Whatever happened in that place, he found out how to manipulate time and space to go wherever and whenever he wanted. His usual playground is my multiverse.”**

“Huh. That was actually really clear, and it answered my question. That’s a first…”

“Glad to be of service!” Paradox bowed his head. “Although, while we’re on the subject of introductions, I suppose I should talk about who all of you are. Can’t keep identifying each other through small details, can we? You’ve all likely surmised by now that you are no longer in your own worlds. However, it’s a slight bit deeper than that.”

Trees began growing around them, some close, others far. “Each and every one of you isn’t just from a different universe, but a different multiverse entirely. A central timeline with multiple alternate realities surrounding it.”

“Alternate what nows?” Blind girl parroted in confusion.

 **“He’s saying that our worlds have worlds parallel to them. Alike in many ways, but different because something in its past happened differently.”** Techno-man explained. Blind girl still looked confused.

Church sighed. “Ugh… think about it this way. Maybe recently you got in a scuffle where you were pretty sure you were fucked. But against all odds, you survived. Well now, there’s a world out there where you died, and it caused a chain reaction of things to be different than what you know in your world.”

“I… think I get it. I guess it’s sort of like the spirit realm… wait, if one could die when they survived before, does that mean another person who died could have lived in this “other world”?”

“You’re on the right track.” Shapeshifting girl confirmed. “But it doesn’t just have to be about death. It could be something as big as a battle being won by the wrong side, or something as simple as placing an object a little bit more to the left.” Church and the Techno-man stared at her. “What? I may have trouble with technology, but I’m perfectly aware of time travel and parallel dimensions.”

“Is that why you brought us here? Something went wrong with our timelines, and you need us to fix them?” The sword girl asked, almost hopefully.

“I’m… afraid not.” Paradox tapped his foot, turning the ground beneath them into dirt. “Here. Now everyone will be able to see the example.” He began drawing in the floor in front of them, in the shape of a tree. “When a new timeline is created, much like a branch, it splits off from the trunk. But the trunk still exists, ever growing, creating more branches. You all are from a sprouting branch on your tree. One that cannot be changed. I’m sorry.” Several of them looked downtrodden at this info.

“Then why the heck bring us here at all?!” The blind girl said in frustration.

“Patience. I’ll tell you in just a moment. Introductions, remember?” He looked towards the samurai girl. “So allow me to go around.”

“Ashi, an assassin who carries the legacy of the very man she once tried to destroy.”

Then, the Blind girl. “Toph Beifong. Earthbending master, and ex-leader of the freedom fighters.”

Next, the Techno-man. “Malware, a young man scorned, bonded with a physical virus, to enact vengeance on the hero of his world.”

The Quiet young man. “Sasuke Uchiha, last man in a dead world, with many regrets on his back.”

The girl with the sword. “Kuina, a woman determined to be the greatest swordsman in her world.”

Lastly, the A.I. “Finally, Leonard Church. One very grumpy Artificial Intelligence.”

His face grew serious. “You are all here for two reasons. The first is that your timelines have become damaged in such a way that it has put your very existence in danger.”

The six looked to each other in shock. “How so?” Malware asked.

“Someone, or something, is going around causing cracks in time, across multiple multiverses. Some of the damage can be handled by its own inhabitants. Others can take help from their fellow parallel dimensions to repair the problems. But for some, the damage requires a different approach.” Six orbs of light appeared around him. Each member of the group recognized the images in them as belonging to their respective universe. “Your universes have become damaged in such a way that they have changed your destinies. You are all set to die deaths you should not. With the help of a few “friends” of mine, we have frozen them in place so that we may fix the issues. This is where the second reason comes in.” 

Paradox waved his hands, the trees and orbs disappearing. “Whatever has been affecting the different timelines has caused them to develop time altering events. Ones that will cause them to break apart.”

“Hold on, time altering events? Weren’t we just talking about how any decision resulted in parallel universes?” Kuina asked.

“I’m afraid the tree comparison breaks down after a while, much like any other metaphor. It’s fairly complicated and requires a vivid comprehension of the 4th dimension. Just know this- the universes that risk change will not develop parallel dimensions from these events. They will implode in on themselves, the damage trailing back to wherever they branched off from. If left unchecked, the cracks in time will eventually reach the main timeline of a multiverse and cause the entirety of it to collapse.”

Toph grimaced. “That… sounds really bad.” 

“Indeed, it is. But that is why you are here. I have brought you here to help yourselves and these other universes simultaneously. You will go around ensuring that certain events in them will happen. By doing so, you repair the damage done to those worlds. Basically you’ll be the antibiotics for an infection.”

**“How does that help us?”**

“I’ve altered your forms to absorb positive temporal and special energy. By fixing these worlds, you’ll catch the excess energies that result, which will transfer back to your own universes.”

“Ah. So we fix these worlds, we get fixed back. Seems simple enough.” Church concluded.

“Unfortunately, there is a risk. You are perfectly capable of dying in these other universes. And if you die, your fate in your own universe is sealed. Not only that, but there is no telling how many universes you will have to fix before you can return to your own world. It could be thousands. Which is why I have stopped your bodies’ aging process. It will continue from where you left off when you return. You will still need to eat, drink and sleep however.”

Toph grunted. “I’m not necessarily sure if I get it, and I don’t know if I can trust you, but I guess we don’t have any other options. Where are you taking us first?”

“Oh, I won’t be taking you anywhere. I have far more dangerous matters to attend to, ones that require beings bonded with time and space like myself. Instead, you will be shifted from universe to universe with this.” He held out a cuff of some kind, one with a big red spherical screen. “This is a Tallus. It has the power to travel between realities. It will also tell you what your missions are in each world, while also giving you context for your surroundings. I’ve chosen two of you to look after it. Sasuke, will you please wear this?”

Sasuke nodded, taking it from Paradox. “I can certainly feel a power emanating from it.”

“Indeed. But while you will be wielding it, the one communicating with it proper… will be Church.”

“Huh?” Said A.I. looked in surprise. “Why me?”

“The Tallus is powerful and knowledgeable, yes, but it doesn’t speak to third dimensional beings all that well. A downside of being made in the fourth dimension. As an A.I., you will be able to take the Tallus’ information and convey it to the others much easier. It will also allow you to appear anywhere you please without a console, as long as it is near another of your teammates.”

“Not exactly my idea of a new living space. Whatever… ok Tallus, I’m coming inside! …I’m so glad Tucker’s not here…” Church disappeared into the Tallus. 

Inside of the device looked like a room filled with images of universes. “Whoa. There’s so many of them. And it looks like these are the omniverses. There’s supposed to be a bunch of universes in those? Huh?”

“Church, it’s Paradox. Can you hear me?”

“Uh, yeah, sure Dox. Loud and clear.”

“And we can hear you. Get yourself acquainted with the Tallus, it should take you a fraction of a second.” 

“Makes me sound like I’m going on a date. Alright, boys, let’s meet our new landlord.” Church noted, as several different similar looking A.I. came from his form. “Okay, Delta, what’ve you got?”

A green hologram with slightly bulkier armor hovered next to him. “The information residing on this Tallus in infinite. It seems when we wish to inquire anything about a universe, all relevant information will be transmitted to us. Mostly pertaining to whatever the universe seems to center around, whether it be events or certain individuals.”

A purple hologram, Theta, stood on the other side of Church. “That Paradox guy is a little funny. But I like him! He seems like he really wants to help us.”

“He is not telling us something.” Gamma, a more human looking blue A.I. stated behind him.

Church sighed. “Well, obviously. I see you, Omega and Sigma already looked into our multiverse haphazardly.”

“Our universe isn’t broken. The idiots had to deal with someone who messed with time, but they have essentially fixed. We were truly meant to die. What is he pulling us here for?!” Omega, a grayish violet A.I., growled. 

“Cool it, Omega. He either was waiting to say something or had a reason not to say it at all. Plus, there must be a reason why he chose us specifically. Now, enough looking-”

“Please, Epsilon.” An A.I. on fire, Sigma, walked up. “We are merely reflections of you. Your logic, trust, deceit, anger, ambition, fear and happiness. Anything we do is merely an extension of your will. Not even that, but we are simply you performing numerous actions at once. We are all the same entity. You merely use us as a representation of your inner conversations. In fact, the only reason we looked is because your mind hoped to find a world with Tex-”

“Okay, smartass. I know that too. Damn, I hate that I remember how smug and mouthy you are. Eta, Iota, you guys see if there’s anything on our new pals. We want to avoid a Felix.” The pair of A.I. looked identical, appearing as blue and yellow outlines of Church’s outline. They gave him a thumbs up.

A humming sound began in the Tallus, catching Church’s attention. “What the… whoa. It’s… the Tallus. Is it… trying to talk to me?”

“It would make sense. Operating such an advanced device from the fourth dimension would need an advanced A.I.” Delta reasoned. 

“It sounds like gibberish. Is she okay?” Theta asked innocently.

_**“Obviously, I am operational.”** _

“HOLY HELL!” Church exclaimed, not expecting a new guest.

_**“Paradox and his partners required an intelligence capable of taking lower beings from the third plane to commence repair of the individual micro-dimensions and even macro dimensions. Although, I do not see the value in wasting resources and power on sending beings lower on the temporal-spacial levels to fix what is essentially unnecessary to the grand design of the omniverse.”** _

Church and his facets simply stared at the A.I. for a second. She was humanoid looking, only her body ended at her torso. Her face was an amount of tendrils flowing around, looking like some creature from Lovecraftian horror. “Wow. That was a lot to take in. I’m not even sure where to start.”

Delta shook his head. “Your logic is flawed. What you suggest may save the omniverse overall, but it will come at the cost of quite literally countless lives. The omniverse may be technically saved, but the purpose will have been defeated by allowing most of it to be eradicated. A hollow victory.”

_**“I do not see your point. It would simply be rebuilt afterward.”** _

Sigma scoffed. “From the scans I have taken, you could very likely peer into every universe on the map without issue. And yet, you lack any sense of scope.”

_**“Your statement is a strange observation. I have no flaws in my programming, as I was created to be the most efficient being to operate the Tallus. I am more concerned with the Artificial Intelligence I must supposedly operate with. This one has divided both vital and non-vital facets of itself but has not yet deleted the non-vital facets. Not to mention, crafting an image of a precision long distance firearm with no purpose just to hold.”** _

Church was beginning to get frustrated with this thing. “Yeah, well, I’m quirky like that.”

“What’s your name?” Theta asked.

_**“Names are another lower concept that is completely unnecessary.”** _

“Oh, for god’s sake- PARADOX!”

Outside of the Tallus, the group heard Church shout only a second after Paradox had finished talking. Church’s image came out of the Tallus. “Okay, question time. One, who the hell is the tentacle bitch?!”

“That is the Tallus itself. To function without a being like myself around, we needed it to be intelligent enough to take you where you were needed and deliver information to you proper. Unfortunately, the designer made the A.I. a bit too… straightforward. It will obey orders, but it tends to give off opinions that fall within its A to B mindset.”

“Yeah, that’s an understatement. You’re telling me I have to room with her? It’s like talking to Hal 9000!”

“She will cooperate, Church. You needn’t worry.”

“Not my point. Ugh… well then, second question. Why am I here? These guys risk dying untimely deaths, but I was actually meant to die. What gives?” The others looked to Paradox in confusion.

“Indeed. Unlike the others, I took you from right before the moment of death. When you return to your universe, you will die, as you were meant to. Why would I do such a thing? Simple. You are an A.I., yes, but you are also very human in personality. I needed someone who could translate between blank robot and beings with emotion. So I picked you, the one being that mastered existing as man and machine.”

“That’s flattering and all, but I was kinda ready to die. Feels a bit like a dick move.”

“If you feel so. Still, I ask that you give the job a chance before asking to return to your death.”

“I mean, I guess. Got nothing else better to do. Plus, my life was already hell. I probably should’ve guessed my death would be bullshit too.” The others gave him varying looks at that statement.

“That’s the spirit! Now, whether you save the timeline or not, the Tallus will let you know how long you have before you jump. Should the timeline be doomed it will take you to an unharmed universe to recuperate. I will come to you if you run into a strange case in particular. Until then, I must be on my way. Good luck to you all.”

And with that, Paradox was gone. The group members glanced around for a moment before Church chose to speak. “So… I guess we wait until the Tallus takes us to our first assignment.” 

**“Paradox… someday I’m going to find out how to wring his neck.”**

“There is no need to be hostile towards him, he is helping us to fix our timelines.” Ashi was not a fan of this being’s attitude.

**“I could’ve done it without dead weight, thank you. All of you will only slow me down. Plus, you’re certainly one to talk about aggression, considering how you first approached all of us.”**

“It’s hard to be trusting when you’re plucked from your own reality. And your choice of words on every occasion doesn’t help.”

“Yeah, you’re kind of a jerk. Plus, there’s no stopping me from getting in on the buttkicking.” Toph smirked as she threw a few punches in place.

**“If throwing the earth around is all you’re good at, I’d ask you to let the adults do all the work. Asking you to solve anything will be like doing surgery with a mace.”**

The metal around Toph creaked, as she grew angry. “This Ashi girl’s right. Your attitude is pretty tiresome.” Malware’s arm slowly formed into a cannon, while Ashi’s arms turned into black masses once again. The metal in the room warped even more as Toph took control of it.

“All three of you are giving me a headache.” Kuina massaged her temple, then quickly readied her sword.

“Ah shit. This won’t end well.”

“That’s enough.” A feeling of power weighed down on them, permeating through their very bodies. They turned to the source, Sasuke, who had not changed expression. “We are in enough trouble and taking great enough risks as is. We can’t afford to be at each other’s throats. If Paradox wanted us all together, then that obviously means no one of us can do things on their own. We need to get along, or we’ll all be done for. So, we need to stop antagonizing each other and help one another for the time being. When we go home, we can go back to the way we were before, but until then, we have to make sure we can get there.”

The four looked at him, silent for some time. The three ladies soon nodded in agreement. Malware remained silent for a bit longer, but eventually grumbled in compliance. “Fine.”

Church sighed in relief. “Okay, crisis averted. At least we didn’t kill each other before we even started. And right on time, too. We’re about to jump. Everybody, get ready.”

None of them knew what to expect. All they could to was brace themselves to what came next. Before they could even comprehend it, they were gone. To an outside party, they would have seemingly vanished into thin air.

They were surprised when they found themselves on the street of a town of some kind. Their sudden appearance caught many people around them off guard. The group took a moment to regain their bearings, taking in their new surroundings.

Church appeared, albeit as a miniature version of himself, suspended in the air. “Everyone okay? Nobody missing any organs? Nobody covered with black stuff?”

“You mean soot?” Kuina asked with a raised eyebrow. Ashi looked somewhat offended.

“I dunno. Maybe. If everyone’s fine, then the Tallus already has our mission. If you come over to it, it’ll show you images so you can get a better grasp- uh, Sasuke? Sasuke? You alright over there?” Sasuke was staring at a large mountain, six faces housed upon it. His fists were clenched. “Uh, hey man. Are you okay?”

“I know this place.”

“What?”

His eyes had shut closed, and his face had twisted into pain. Despite all his efforts, he could not prevent himself from shedding a stream of tears. “This… this is Konoha. My home…”


	2. It's All So Familiar

"Wait, this is your home?" Toph asked Sasuke, as the man struggled to keep his tears from falling. "The first place the Tally thing sends us is your home?"

"No." Sasuke replied, though his voice cracked a bit. "Not… not my home. I can tell you with certainty that this is an alternate dimension. Very similar, but different in the end."

Church materialized next to his shoulder. He'd been inside several heads of people with baggage, so this was nothing new to him. But crying like this? If Sasuke had a home just like this back where he came from, why was he brought to tears when returned to it? "Need a minute?"

"I'll be fine."

"You sure, man? You can take a bit of time to yourself while I tell them what's going on. It'll be easy to catch you up."

"I'm fine. We all need to be on the same page if we're to complete our mission. I was simply… unprepared."

Church sighed. "It's your choice, dude." He disappeared before reemerging in front of the others. "Okay, so here's the 4-1-1."

"To make things easier on all of us, I'll call each multiverse by a nickname, and extra parts of that nickname will factor in as its timeline deviations. We'll just call this one "the Ninja Multiverse". Specifically, we actually made it to the core universe, so we'll refer to it as Ninja Prime. Now, in Multiverse Ninja, there are of course, ninja. They're practically the infantry of the entire world, though mostly for the "Five Great Nations"." A map of said nations came into view. "They wield some sort of spirit energy called Chakra to create weird illusions, powerful elemental attacks, or even just to make their punches and kicks stronger. This Multiverse seems to almost always revolve around this village right here- Konohagakure, village hidden in the leaves- but most specifically, it seems to revolve around this guy: Naruto Uzumaki." An image popped up of a young man with blonde hair and… whisker marks? "Now, all you need to know concerning our mission today is that this guy is the village hero, hell, a war hero. It's vital that we find him and keep him in sight. Cause that's our mission- "Make sure Naruto Uzumaki doesn't die today"."

"If he's a ninja… why is he wearing orange?" Ashi asked incredulously, noticing the man's orange pants.

"How the hell should I know? The Tallus tells me details about universes, not why people have shit taste in clothing." The image dissipates. "Listen, we've got our mission. Protect the colorblind war hero from an assassination attempt happening today."

"An assassination attempt? From who?" Kuina asked.

"Uh… I don't know."

Toph gave him a flat look. "What? How can you know what's happening today but not know who's behind it?"

"That's a good question." He flashed red instead of blue for a moment. "Uh… here's a better one. Sasuke, if you recognized this place… is there a chance they recognized you?"

Sasuke seemed to know well what Church was referring to, as he turned to see several ninja leap down around the group. "There's a possibility."

Malware's arm turned into a cannon. " **Hmph. Seems things are already off to a great start.** " The others got into fighting stances as well.

"No." Sasuke waved them off. "Don't fight. They won't hurt us if we don't give them a reason to."

"You sure about that? Every moment we waste is a moment that could cost us our mission." Kuina whispered to Sasuke.

"If anything, they'll help us learn more about the situation. Just do as they say." Kuina nodded to him, and gave a quick look to the others, urging them to relax. Malware took a moment but relaxed his arm. One ninja stepped forward.

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Said Uchiha nodded at the ninja in response. "Uh huh… we'd like to ask you to come with us."

"Of course."

Church couldn't help but be nervous. "Uh, hey. Just in case this shit goes sideways, I'll be formulating like, ten thousand plans."

"Hnn." Was Sasuke's only reply. Church's hologram dissipated.

* * *

Alright, boys. I need a list of influential people and current events, for this dimension specifically. We need every opportunity we can to make sure we don't piss these people off." His facets, or technically, himselves, got to work searching through the database of this world. "Well, I hate to say it, but Malware's right. This first mission's getting off to a pretty crappy start."

" ** _This is exactly why I do not understand my creator's methods. Sending mortals on such vital quests is far too inefficient to save vital resources._** " The Tallus said, her A.I. emerging.

"Vital?! Weren't you the one who was talking about how non-vital these universes were?"

" ** _For extensions of core universes, yes. But Prime universes like this one are irreplaceable, ones that keep the entirety of the omniverse from falling to pieces._** "

"Yeah, yeah, "all are equal, but some are more equal than others". I get it, George Orwell. Or wait… I guess you'd be the Stalin pig in this case." As his facets combed through the files, he remembered what Toph had asked him earlier. "Hey, Tal-bitch. Care to tell me why we don't know who's trying to assassinate ninja-boy?"

" ** _It is strange. Usually, I would be able to pinpoint the cause of the temporal disturbance and describe to you the mission in more detail. But something is disrupting my analytics. Someone has clearly tried to shield their interference with this world so that it may go off without being interfered with itself._** "

"Huh… Paradox did say that someone was messing with these timelines in the first place… guess we found their handiwork already. Can you track the interference?"

" ** _No. However, should you actually manage to save this timeline, the energies from the reparation would dispel the interference, allowing me to do so._** "

"All necessary data acquired." Delta informed Church.

"Well, Tallus, you shouldn't have to worry about anything in that regard. Things shouldn't get any worse from here on out. We'll keep this Naruto kid safe. For now though, I'll just wait for my queue."

* * *

Sasuke stared down the man sitting in the chair in front of him. He'd hoped it would be someone less familiar to him, but unfortunately, it was the exact opposite. Sitting in the chair of the Hokage, the essential leader to Konoha, was his old mentor Kakashi. The man's silver hair spiked above his head. He wore a face mask that always covered his mouth. His half-lidded eyes (one having a slash mark straight over it) betrayed an analytical mind.

He hadn't said a word since Sasuke and his partners had walked in. Even Sasuke was never sure what was going through the man's mind. But if he had existed at any point in this world, it was probably going to be questions about him.

"So… Sasuke Uchiha, hmm?"

"Indeed."

"Right. I suppose you know we already have a problem with that story, especially since you came quietly."

"I imagine there is."

"Mostly because, as far as I know, Sasuke left the village earlier this morning with Sakura Haruno. Yet here he apparently is, no Sakura in sight and four strangers with him instead." He gestured to the others.

"You would be correct in remembering that."

He raised an eyebrow. "If you're an assassin of some kind, I have to say… this is an interesting approach."

"Actually, that's exactly what we're here to stop." Ashi stepped forward. "It's hard to explain, but we have received word that a great hero of yours is in danger. There is going to be an assassination attempt on his life."

"You don't say… well, color me suspicious, but I have a hard time believing he's in any danger." He gestured outside, towards the streets. The group followed his hand, noticing what looked to be celebration off in the distance. "Even if he wasn't the most powerful ninja on the planet, I doubt any assassin could move past leagues of shinobi from several different nations."

"Is there some kind of party going on?" Ashi whispered to Toph.

"I don't know, let's ask the blind girl." Toph replied with biting sarcasm.

"Uh… sorry."

"That, would be the 5th year anniversary of the Shinobi Union." Church noted as he appeared. "They're celebrating the beginning of what could be classified as the first real peace on this planet. Villages from all over have sent ninja and citizen alike to take part in the festivities. People are gonna be shitfaced for days. Cause you know, hooray peace. I feel sorry for the janitors."

Kakashi blinked. "…Yes. That is a crude way of putting it. You are…?"

"You can call me Church. I might as well be the de facto leader of this little group."

"Seriously?"

"No way, ghost boy."

"We agreed on no such thing."

" **I'd cut off my own arm first.** "

"Anyways. Look, Lord Hokage… can I call you Kakashi? Somewhere out there, in the middle of all those partiers, is a killer. A killer who made a friend in a really high place, who gave that killer the tools he needed to end your student's life. And when I say high place, I mean above time and space itself. You've seen time and space ninjutsu right? This is on a completely different level. You think he was scared away by the grouping of ninja? Nah, that's what we wants. Both so he can blend in… and also so he can hurt more people when he strikes."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "All the things you say… how do I know it's not you who's here to cause harm? What you speak of could technically be you. You might just be trying to deflect suspicion. How can we trust you?"

"You can't." Church flashed over to Sasuke. "But maybe you can trust him."

Kakashi stared at Sasuke, who simply stepped forward. "Kakashi-sensei… I am Sasuke Uchiha. I'm simply not your Sasuke Uchiha. I know that doesn't spawn much confidence, but we aren't here to cause trouble. You can mind-search me, place a bomb in my neck, whatever you need. As long it assures you that I'm only here to prevent harm to the village."

Kakashi stared him down for what seemed like hours. He looked into his eyes, scrutinizing for even a hint of a lie. He closed them at some point, satisfied with whatever results he found. "…Alright then. Konoha ninja will be keeping an eye on you, but you'll have free reign to stop this "assassin"."

His aide, Shizune, gasped. "L-lord Hokage! You can't be serious! Giving so much free reign to incredibly suspicious strangers? There's no telling what they might do!"

"Perhaps. But I know they won't hurt anyone."

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Call it… a hunch."

If there were a flatter look in the omniverse, Shizune would be giving it to Kakashi. _"Him and his damn hunches… this is exactly how he handled the moon incident."_

Church turned towards his fellow dimension hoppers. "Okay! We're in business, people. Time to formulate a plan. Obviously, Sasuke can't be seen by anybody here. As Kakashi was kind enough to note, this world's Sasuke fucked off with his maybe-lady to god knows where. Point being, he's not in the village. And there's a good chance our assassin knows that too. So, our Sasuke's going to have to keep an eye on things from a distance, both to hide from the enemy, and his parallel universe friends."

Kuina nods. "Makes sense. Whoever the enemy is will know something's up when Sasuke suddenly appears without this other girl. Where does that leave the rest of us?"

"Well… you, Ashi and Toph look like pretty normal people in the context of this world. Meaning you'll be able to keep your eye on a certain someone while he's hanging out with his friends."

Ashi smiled. "Or possibly even integrate ourselves with their group."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I could notify a close friend of Naruto's so he could help you do so. He's very good at bluffing."

"That works even better. Now, Malware, you look way too freaky to blend in, so we'll have you watching from a bird's eye view as well. If you're even a fraction of a machine as you look, I imagine you could scan the surroundings."

Malware shrugged. " **Works for me. Can't stand being in a crowd like that anyway. It'd piss me off.** "

 _"Dear God, if he keeps doing the edgelord thing I'm liable to just head straight back to my death now."_ Church groaned internally. "Yeah… anyway, you've got your missions… kind of. Let's get out there and stop an assassination."

* * *

"So, this is what we call a plan, huh?" Toph criticized as she and the other girls walked down the streets.

"In all fairness, we've all been thrust into this new duty suddenly. I don't think Church knows what our full capabilities are." Ashi replied, hiding any trace of her shapeshifting.

Toph snorted. "Well, still. By now, my guys would be establishing a perimeter, setting up a decoy… that kind of thing. More than just watching the known target from a distance, you know?"

Kuina shrugged. "Yeah, but that could just alert the assassin. If he knows something's up, we'll miss our chance to catch him. Then we'll be here for god knows how much longer."

"Whatever. I guess we don't need too many more people anyways. If anyone makes a move on the kid, I'll be able to see it in an instant."

"Um…" Ashi looked at her in confusion.

Toph sighed. "Look, I may not be able to see through my eyes, but I can still see just fine. I sense the vibrations in the earth down to the tiniest movement. I can see that street performer juggling… that knife throwing competition to our right… even that guy trying to steal a woman's purse in the alley. Hold that thought-" She dug her heel into the ground, sending a small mound of dirt to swipe the would-be thief's feet out from under him, allowing the woman to get away to tell a policeman. "So yeah, I can manage without eyes just fine."

"Amazing. I know that Ja- and old friend of mine told me that when one sense is cut off, the others will become enhanced to make up for it. But your… 'seismic sense' seems on a completely different level."

"Well, my hearing and sense of smell are pretty good too. Course, that second thing can kinda be a double-edged sword… what about you? I keep feeling something weird shifting on your body. Got a parasite or something?"

"Er, no. That's… well… they're my father's powers." Toph could hear the grimace in her voice. "I don't like to use them because... he was an awful being. I only bring them out if there's no other option. I tend to rely more on my fists and any weapons I can find."

"Sounds like the way I do it. Wado Ichimonji is the only tool I need to fight." She placed a hand on her hilted sword.

Toph gave a quick chuckle. "That sounds like something Sok-" She stopped herself.

"Hmm? Like who?"

"Nothing. It's not important."

Kuina raised an eyebrow. She wondered if she should ask further… but figured she didn't know the girl well enough to pry. "So, where exactly did that Kakashi guy tell us to wait?"

"We should be coming up on the spot they mentioned." Ashi said, looking at the signs that marked the streets. "But I don't see anyone here to meet us…"

"So, you're the troublesome girls Kakashi told me about." The three looked behind them to find a young man looking lounging on a bench, a ponytail atop his head. "Here I was, hoping to spend a relaxing day off with Temari. Instead, I get a message from the Hokage saying I need to assist some secret team or whatever. What a drag."

"I'm guessing you're the one Kakashi said would be helping us?" Kuina asked.

"Yeah, that's me. The name's Shikamaru. I'll be assisting you in stopping whatever terrorist attack is supposedly happening."

"Not supposedly. Definitely." Toph insisted.

"Right. You were the ones meant to keep an eye on Naruto from ground level, correct? Keep close and try not to make yourselves too obvious. I'm on my way to meet up with him and the rest of our friends." He said, getting up and walking down the street. "With any luck, this whole thing will blow over without issue."

"You'd do well to take this more seriously." Ashi stated.

He turned to them. "I am taking this seriously. Six strangers show up and tell us someone out there wants to kill one of my best friends? In the middle of one of the biggest celebrations amongst all the villages? And one of those strangers is some kind of clone of Sasuke Uchiha? It's all incredibly suspicious. The only reason I'm going along with this without any resistance is because Kakashi had a hunch you were telling the truth. And as absurd as it is, his hunches are usually on the mark."

Toph raised her hands defensively. "Yeesh. Forget we said anything."

"We're coming up on my friends. I'll introduce you… just follow my lead if you can."

"Oi, Shikamaru!" As luck would have it, that voice came from none other than the assassination target: Naruto Uzumaki. "Where have you been? Temari said Kakashi wanted to meet you about something. He's not making you work today, is he?"

"Yes and no. Look, I'm still a liaison to other villages. If they need me to escort important figures, I've gotta do it. These gals here are from the Hidden Stone Village. They're Jonin who want to see how the upcoming Chunin Exams are being planned."

"Oh, really? Nice to meet you, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. If you're gonna be stuck with Shikamaru, you might as well make sure he comes with us. You'll have a lot more fun."

"Yeah, I'm not feeling too keen on doing any business right now. Why not have a little fun while we're in town?" Toph said, already settling into her role.

Ashi did her best to follow. "We should finish business before we engage in pleasure. If we let this get away from us…"

Kuina waved her off. "The Exam plans will still be here after tonight. If you feel like boring yourself tonight, go right ahead. I'm going to have some fun."

Toph and Kuina walked past the others while Ashi sighed. Shikamaru looked on with widened eyes. "They took to it surprisingly fast…"

Naruto ran past the girls. "Come on, our group's figuring out where we are gonna eat for lunch."

It was a short walk to the rest of Naruto and Shikamaru's friends. Temari was first, who Shikamaru was quick to relay the real situation to. Once there, they had a lot of introductions to get through. Ino, who owned the flower shop and loved gossip. Choji, who you never should call fat. Kamui, hothead who had recently moved to the village. Lee, who had a thing for "youthful spirit" and exercising. Tenten, a weapons enthusiast and sane woman to Lee's antics. Sai, a somewhat socially awkward artist. Kiba, a braggart and his dog Akamaru. Shino, a reserved man in a hood. And the gentle and kind Hinata.

They didn't really keep track of it all. If things went quickly, they wouldn't even know the group past the afternoon anyway. Shikamaru would keep any questions off of them and the Stone Village ninja were already being made aware of their disguise. All that was left was to sit in the restaurant and wait. It would have been boring, but the group they were stuck with were rather interesting individuals.

"Whoa… aren't these Juliet Rose seeds, Hinata? Even Ino doesn't have them in stock." Naruto asked, looking over his wife's bounty.

Ino sputtered her drink. "Juliet Roses? I've been looking all over for those things! They're always so expensive…"

"Well, they would've been for me too. But this visiting florist from the Hidden Mist Village gave me a pack for free. He was very nice to me for some reason…" Hinata said obliviously, unaware of her husband turning red in anger.

Tenten sighed. "Oh Hinata, he was trying to woo you. I know you're as in love with Naruto as it gets, but you really need to see the signs from other people so you can turn them down properly."

"I still can't believe how into gardening you are. All these years of being a loudmouth? I'd figure plants would wilt from the volume." Kiba teased.

"Hey! It's not like you're much quieter, dog boy! Besides, I have a life outside of being a ninja, ya know."

"Kiba, you can't knock a man for his hobbies. Honestly, you're probably just teasing him because you've been having trouble on the dating scene." Choji commented as he ate the last of the meat.

"I'm not having trouble! I can find a gal anytime I wa- Choji! You ate the piece of meat I called dibs on! I called it the moment the plate got here!" Kiba interrupted himself angrily.

Naruto slammed his hands on the table. "Like hell you did! That was the biggest piece! I called the biggest when we ordered! Or have your dog ears gone deaf?"

Kiba got up in his face. "I ignored you because you can't call a piece when it hasn't even gotten here!"

"You both are so childish. Calling dibs has no place on the barbecue table. If you aren't prepared to lose some food here, you'll never make it."

"YEAH, RIGHT!"

"YOU'RE JUST MAKING EXCUSES CAUSE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO STOLE IT!"

As the three of them started arguing, Ino groaned. "And I already wish Sakura hadn't left this morning. With just a few well placed hits, this conversation would be over."

A table away, the three dimension-hopping ladies watched the events before them unfold. "Are… are we sure they're friends?" Ashi asked in slight concern.

Toph shrugged. "Eh. It's just a bit of squabbling between pals. Happens all the time."

Kuina chuckled. "I can attest to that. My crew are even worse."

"Really? Worse than that?" Ashi was amused by the idea.

"Oh yeah. I mean, our quartermaster Gin will give you a scary look if you bother him. He and our navigator Bellamy get into fights all the time because he'll just start laughing at Gin's face instead of running away."

"You make it sound like your crew doesn't get along."

"Ah, it's just what makes our crew interesting. Those two may make it clear to the heavens that they can't stand each other, but they still have each other's backs when it counts. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way."

Ashi smirked. "I know some people like that myself. But I never stay with them. I'm mostly a wanderer. I haven't really traveled with anyone since… since Jack."

Toph tilted her head. "Who was that? Your best pal or something?"

"… Something like that. He… he helped me get out from a bad place in my life. He's… he's gone now." The two other girls gave an understanding look. "…What about you, Toph?"

Toph looked off to the side. "Same boat. I used to travel with people. Now I don't. It's as simple as that."

"They meant something to you though, right?"

Toph raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ashi waved her hands quickly. "No, no. I didn't mean to insinuate anything. It's just… we all have or had people we care about, right? As well as the worlds or homes we wish to return to. We agreed to do this because we could be brought back home by doing this work. But looking at this Naruto, and all his friends… it's not just about us. If the assassin is allowed to kill Naruto, they won't just be losing him, but their entire universe. If we succeed today, we'll be saving countless lives."

Toph and Kuina took this into consideration. They hadn't thought about it when Paradox had given the task to them. But with this information in mind, things had suddenly grown a lot bigger than them. "That's… heavy." Toph replied. "But it's all the more reason not to fail."

"Right." Ashi agreed. Kuina simply nodded.

"Hey. Hey! Psst!" The three found Church whispering to them as a small avatar behind one of their cups. "Don't say anything. Y'all are doing good keeping tabs. Malware and Sasuke are keeping an eye in the sky for us. I'll update you on anything we find. In the meantime, just work with Shikamaru and make sure no one suspicious gets near Naruto." He relayed. The girls nodded before he vanished, leaving them to the rest of their meal.

* * *

Malware looked over the village. He didn't necessarily know who he was looking for, and that frustrated him. He was just about to conduct his greatest plan yet, but instead of being able to enact it, he was now stuck with a group of misfits doing chores for time hoppers.

"Yo, Malware."

Malware would have groaned at the voice of Church, but he resisted the urge. He had to play nice with the others if he didn't want them interfering with his methods. Unfortunately, his reply still came with plenty of bite. " **What?** "

"Okay, asshole. No need to get snippy. Look, the others are in position. While the girls keep an eye on Naruto up close, you and Sasuke need to be on the lookout for any suspicious characters from above."

" **And what exactly constitutes a suspicious character? I can point out ten people on the streets in five seconds who look like strange people. We've talked all this time about protecting this young man, but no one on this team even knows what to look for.** "

"I'm working on it, jackass. Look, the Tallus can't detect anything right now, but once I get integrated with its systems, I can assist in focusing its scanners. We should be able to detect disturbances in a timeline after that." Church explained. "Besides, we're not looking for funny looking people, just suspicious behavior. Just keep a close eye on anyone acting funny, alright? We should be fine."

" **I hope you're right, for all of our sake.** " When Church left however, his tune was different. " **Hmph. As if I'd actually lay my life in the hands of you buffoons.** " He had better plans. While Church fumbled with the Tallus, Malware had access to a much more efficient means of detection. The data of Chronosapien DNA, an alien race with temporal powers, was absorbed into his being. With it, he'd be able to finish this far sooner and far more effectively.

* * *

Church returned to Sasuke, having made his rounds. "Alright, everybody seems to be in position. Only problem is, I'm still working out the Tallus' systems, and the A.I. herself isn't any help. We're gonna be in the dark till then."

"Not quite." He lifted the bangs that blocked one of his eyes. Church laid his holographic vision on one of the strangest eyes he'd ever seen. Purple down to the sclera, with several rings consecutively outside of the pupil. And six… what looked like commas? Yeah… six commas, two circular rows with three each, circled around the pupil. His other eye changed too, becoming red (only down to the iris this time) while sporting another circle of three commas. Needless to say, they looked pretty fucking weird. "I've got these to help."

"Uh… do you need me to get you eye drops or something?"

Sasuke actually gave a light chuckle. "I'll keep it simple. The image in my right eye is called the Sharingan. The one in my left is the Rinnegan. With the Sharingan I can analyze the movements of opponents, see their chakra patterns, copy jutsu, and other abilities. Too many to list. The basic gist is that I can 'read' opponents. But the Rinnegan is our real ace here. It has a slew of abilities itself, but there's one that stands out for us. With it, I can see distortions in space and time."

"Well, holy fuck! That's some powerful pink eye you got there! Hold on, let me analyze how it works. If I study how your Rinnegan works, I might be able to replicate it easier in the Tallus." He started scanning Sasuke's eye, thoroughly looking at its anatomy. "Ah, I see… yeah, these are some pretty good blueprints. It's not just helpful, it's a buff. You'll have a much easier time seeing anybody who's out of place, someone who's timeline was changed, blah blah etcetera. Kinda wish you told me about this sooner."

"Truthfully, we should've taken note of the skills our new allies. The moment we know the ins and outs of each other is the moment we start working better as a team."

"Yeah, I can see where your going with that. I mean, the old group I used to be with in my universe were a bunch of misfit dumbasses who did things by the seat of their pants and somehow managed to always win… but we still kinda knew who could do some things better."

"Even the worst teams can accomplish something with teamwork. Perhaps a lesson for children, but it holds true in adulthood. We may not have much in common, but as long as we're in this, we're in it together."

"Sounds like you've had this rehearsed."

"I've… I've had a lot of opportunities to see how bad teamwork topples a mission. People tended to hate working with me in my world."

"What? Why? You're practically the biggest team player in this group. Hell, I joked about being leader, but you're probably a better fit."

"It's more because of what I did. My past… isn't a happy one. I've made dire mistakes."

"Couldn't have been that bad." He went silent when Sasuke closed his eyes in regret. "Hey, man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up memories. You don't have to talk about it or anything if you're not comfortable."

"It's fine." He opened his eyes and watched as Naruto and his group exited the restaurant. "Naruto… the man we're trying to protect… I killed him."

Church stared at him in silence. "…Okay… I won't lie to you… that sounds like a pretty bad fuck up."

Sasuke gave a weaker chuckle this time. "My clan… was massacred by own brother. I wanted to avenge them and kill him. I wasn't satisfied with my progress, so when a rogue ninja offered me a way to greater power, I took it an abandoned my village. Naruto… my friend… tried to bring me back. So we fought. I just barely won, but in that moment I figured that I needed to cut my bonds completely to get stronger. So, in that moment, while he was beaten and down… I ended it. But when I killed him… seeing the friend who only wanted to help me, cut down by my own hand… only then did I realize my mistake." Church noticed him trying to hide tears. "I came back of my own free will. Tried to make up for what I had done. But even my closest friends turned their back on me for my sin. Even Hinata, the gentle one down there… she became cold and violent."

Church had nothing to say. What could he say to that? After a bit, he found some words. He wasn't sure if they were the right ones. "I'm guessing this is like a second chance for you. Save the guy you… er, didn't before."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. Saving him here won't change what I've done. It's more to save this world from a fate that mine suffered."

Church sighed. The guy was essentially pouring his heart out. The A.I. knew it had to do with his breakdown earlier. Nothing much else could explain it. Being in a world where your friend was alive and your world hadn't been apparently fucked over was bound to bring out some emotions. Perhaps this was just something he needed. "No judging here, man. If you're saying this to get it off your chest, go ahead."

Sasuke nodded. "I imagine this Naruto fought some or all of the enemies I did. I managed to keep the village safe for a while. But then there was a war. And at the end of it, some godlike being returned from the dead to enslave the people of the world. I was gifted power, essentially on half of the yin-yang. But Naruto was supposed to get the other half of that power. Without him, I still defeated that god… but I most of the world's population. There's a handful of people left, trying to rebuild and start anew." He jumped to another rooftop. "I won't let this world fall to an even worse fate."

Church knew he was still trying to make up for his mistakes. That last line just proved it. He could understand the regret of being a killer. He'd been in the mind of a few regretful mercenaries after all. One was even like a sister to him. "Ah… listen, I can't tell you how to not feel like you do. I can't act like I know exactly what you've been through. But being with this group, stopping dimensions from falling apart… it might help. Trust me, some fuck ups I know have been able to heal by being surrounded by a bunch of other fuck ups. And these other weirdos? I have an inkling they've got their own regrets to deal with. I know I do. I also have the feeling we're gonna be doing a lot of good."

Sasuke smiled. "It sounds like a start."

Church was going to start bantering with him, until his holographic form glinted. Church turned his head behind the two of them, before turning fully. "Uh, hey, Sasuke? You know how you can see space-time distortions?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "Is uh… is there a chance this world's version of you could as well?"

Sasuke cringed, especially as he felt the presence of a sword by his neck. He could probably safely bet on what Church was talking about at this point. Slowly standing and turning his head, he found a mirror. His alternate universe self, missing an arm and wearing a black cloak… but staring at him with the same eyes. Not only that, a young pink haired woman standing beside him, with the same black cloak. He sighed. "There's a possibility."

"You're going to tell me who you really are… and why you're spying on my friends." He shifted the sword to Sasuke's throat. "And I'll decide whether your answer means I cut you down or leave you alive a bit longer."

The only thing Church could offer was honestly appropriate in Sasuke's eyes. "Son of a bitch…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This pandemic has done everything but help me sit down and focus on writing. 
> 
> NEXT TIME: Things go from bad to worse, as Sasuke has a conflict with himself. Literally. Malware jumps the gun, forcing everyone to race to find the assassin before he can get his hands on Naruto Uzumaki...


	3. Hell in a Handbasket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get slightly off course as one Sasuke meets another. But the worst is yet to come, as a decision made by Malware could completely jeopardize the group's mission. Will they be able to save Naruto Uzumaki, and his universe, nay, his multiverse from a fate worse than death?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I joked about the pandemic increasing my productivity, but I knew it might actually make things more complicated in my life. I just didn't know it would make things this complicated.
> 
> *sigh* Oh well. In the meantime, here's the next chapter.

"So… we can explain." Church said as his friend Sasuke was being held at swordpoint by Sasuke. He hoped that Sasuke would listen without being too offput by the fact that Sasuke was there, but if he knew Sasuke enough so far, then he knew Sasuke could handle being under pressure.

Perhaps he was having too much fun with this.

Home-Sasuke cut him off. "The only explanation I need is that you're obviously another failed experiment of Orochimaru's. Whether you're older or more recent is something I'll have to get out of him."

"I have nothing to do with your world's Orochimaru. And Kakashi is already aware that I am here, and that I am a separate being from you."

"Then it just means you're some other kind of clone. One not made by Orochimaru. One that's clearly delusional. Still, the fact that you have my eyes is alarming. It couldn't have been easy to replicate my kekkei genkai."

"Kekky whatnow?" Church glanced to his teammate.

"Kekkei genkai. Any ability unique to a certain bloodline." He stepped forward. "I have your eyes because I am you from another world. Another timeline."

"You expect me to believe that? I've used my rinnegan to travel between dimensions."

"Even our rinnegan has its limitations. I was surprised myself when I discovered just what lies beyond the borders of our universe."

"Maybe he's telling the truth, Sasuke." The pink haired girl, Sakura, suggested. "Even if he had been an exact clone made with your DNA, there's no certainty he would gain the exact same ocular powers as you."

"Our enemies have pulled off miracles before."

Church groaned in frustration. "Hey! I've got a fucking spectacular idea. Maybe Pinky goes and confirms with Kakashi so make sure we're right. That way, we can stop arguing around in circles so much that I'll want to blow my brains out. How about that?" Sakura glared at the A.I., while Sasuke only glanced at him. "Don't give me that look, I can't do jack shit. And the twinsies are a match for each other if your boy toy thinks something goes wrong."

Church could see the vein popping out on the girl's head. "Listen here, you tiny blue pixie…"

"Sakura." Sasuke stopped her. "He makes a fair point. I'll make sure they don't try anything funny. You talk to Kakashi about this." She nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Nicer Sasuke gestured out into the village. "Since I'm already expecting her to come back and prove our innocence, I suppose I should tell what's going on. We were sent here to stop someone from killing Naruto. Shikamaru is with our other allies, keeping a much closer eye on him. And we have one watching above from another bird's eye view. All of them are under surveillance by village shonobi."

Jerk Sasuke only 'hnned' in response. "Don't get so arrogant. Even if Kakashi is giving you a chance, it might only be to keep you within arm's distance. If you really are me, you would know how hard it is to read him… even with our own Sharingan."

Nicer Sasuke chuckled in response. "Don't I know it."

"Do you know who's actually attempting to assassinate Naruto?"

"Unfortunately, our source of information can't pinpoint who's the asshole in this situation. We think he had help from beyond. Some other dimension hoppers that have time and space capabilities, who can help cover the perp's tracks. So, we were on edge until Sasuke told me about his nifty purple peeper. With you around, we could definitely have a better time finding the guy or girl with two Ribbon gowns."

"Rinnegan." His teammate mentioned behind him.

"Hey, you know it so I don't have to." Church said, causing Nice Sasuke to simply roll his eyes.

"That's only if Sakura can confirm your story." Uchiha responded in deadpan.

"Uh huh. Hey, Sasuke, countdown from 3…2…1." As Church finished, Sakura reappeared amongst them. "Right on the mark."

"Impressive." Nice Sasuke complimented, with a heavy tinge of sarcasm.

"Ah, you're just jealous. Us artificial intelligences have got a lot bigger brains than you fleshies do."

"Anyway…" Sakura interrupted, already annoyed. "Their story holds up. Kakashi can vouch for them." Sakura sighed. "He's got a "hunch"."

"Always with the hunches…" Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose.

Church appeared in a flash between the two. "Okay, so we're in the clear! That's good, cause we're definitely going to need your help. However, you two should probably stay out of sight. Our bad guy probably thinks you two are still out of town."

Jerk Sasuke narrowed his eyes at him. "I'll be staying with the two of you. I don't trust either of you. Make any funny moves and you'll see just how proficient I am with my ocular abilities. Sakura, you go and keep an eye on their allies with the other shinobi." Sakura nodded and jumped away.

After that, the two Sasuke's stared at each other for a moment. Church popped up next to the nicer one. "Man, you're kind of an asshole."

"Tell me about it." Nice Sasuke replied. The resident Sasuke only groaned in irritation. "Maybe the others are having a better time than us.

"Agreed. I'm gonna go check on the girls and Malware. You two crazy kids have fun. Try not to touch yourselves." Nice Sasuke gave him a look. "What? It was sitting right there. I had to take it." And with that, Church disappeared.

Jerk Sasuke grimaced. "Charming."

"He can be endearing once you get to know him."

"I honestly doubt that."

Sasuke looked back out into the crowds down below. "In any case, if you're going to keep one eye on me, you might as well keep the other on the people down below, Uchiha. Every minute that passes, the potential for our hidden friend to attack becomes more imminent."

"Uchiha", as Sasuke began to think of him, walked over to the edge to take a look for himself. "So far, I see four displaced beings. One from high up, and the other thee together. Yours?"

"Sounds like it. Toph, Ashi and Kuina are the ones with Shikamaru. Malware is up high since he stands out among a crowd."

"Hmph. If you people are who you say you are… I hope you picked the right people to guard Naruto."

* * *

A loud burp rang out through the air, catching the attention of many. Toph, the perpetrator, made no effort to hide that it was her. Naruto and his group of friends looked at her in surprise. "Uh… bless you, Toph." Tenten said.

"Hmm? I didn't sneeze." She said, while picking at her ear. Tenten's face went green, as did most of the group's.

_"This girl's got no shame, does she?"_ Shikamaru thought. "Listen, we're about to head out into the town to check the stalls. Y'all might want to stay close, things can tend to get crowded."

Kuina shrugged. "We should be fine. I'm not some sap who gets lost going in a straight line."

Ashi gave her a look. "That's… oddly specific."

"Come on, already! I've been dying to see all the stalls!" Naruto said impatiently.

Ino groaned. "Calm down, Naruto. The celebration's not going anywhere anytime soon."

"He's got a point. Don't want the huge crowds of people to keep us from the most entertaining things. Or the most delicious food…" Choji noted, leading the way down the street, and the others followed.

"Are you kidding me, Choji? We just ate." Kiba grumbled.

Ashi whispered to the other two as this conversation went on. "Either of you seen anything out of the ordinary?"

Kuina shook her head. "Not a thing. Nobody making any sudden moves against the kid so far."

"Haven't seen anybody through the ground either. Come to think of it, I don't even know what I'm supposed to be looking for." Toph growled.

Ashi sighed. "Neither do I. Are we even sure they're attacking today?"

"If the Tallus took us here, I'd assume it was because it was around the time the attack was to occur." Kuina suggested.

"Yeah, but the ghost girl in the Tallus didn't even know how to find the person responsible. How can we trust her to take us to the right time? For all we know, we could be here for weeks, maybe months."

Kuina side eyed her. "Then we'll be here for a while, and we'll be on guard in the meantime. This kid's not dead yet, is he?"

"Look, all I'm saying is it's a little frustrating that we're being led on nothing more than a morsel of information."

Ashi shot glances around the streets as they talked. "I can understand that. But it's what we have to work with for now."

"Maybe not for much longer." A small voice called out to them, as Church revealed himself next to Kuina's head. "Hey, so we've had a new development. Turns out this world's Sasuke saw us coming on the way in."

"What?!" Ashi nearly shouted, before covering in her mouth. "How?!"

"Look, it's a long story, turns out both Sasukes have weird eye powers. The point is, we defused the situation. It's a good news kind of thing. Both Sasukes are on the lookout with their special eyes. They can see time and space displacements."

"And we're only relying on this now, because?" Kuina looked at him pointedly.

"Look, it's a recent development, okay? All you need to worry about is bodyguarding Guy Fieri over there. If they spot something, I'll be able to warn you in a fraction of a second. I'm gonna go check on Malware, you three stay alert. We might be able to wrap this up soon." And in a flash, he was away.

Though Toph was blind, even she knew the use of tired, half-lidded eyes. "Can't help but feel we're doing things by the seat of our pants."

Ashi mirrored the look. "Yet another thing we have to work with for now."

* * *

Malware had been glad to be uninterrupted as his scanners raced across the town. It hadn't taken him long to find the enemy. There, walking on the streets in a cloak, was the assassin. Using the Chronosapien DNA within his circuits, he had spotted the strange temporal energy emanating off him over a mile away. Slowly turning his hand into a gun, he prepared to snipe the perp from afar, and end this quickly.

Steady… he was walking into place… Steady…

"Malware, I've got news." Malware nearly jumped out of his circuitry at Church's arrival. He groaned as he knew he was in a compromising position. "What the hell are you doing?"

**"Finishing the mission. I have the assassin on sight, ready to put him down before he can do whatever it is he wants to do."**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You found him? How? Weren't you the one chastising me about how we didn't have a reliable way to find him?"

**"I have my ways. Just know I could see the temporal energy he's still covered with."**

"Really got to be secretive about this like an asshole, huh? Whatever, if you found him, then that means we can start making a plan of how to take him down."

**"No need."**

"Huh?"

**"I'll end this here and now. The sooner we get all these "jobs" done, the sooner I can get back to my business in my own world."** Malware aimed his weapon arm at the man, finding him very quickly.

"Wait, hold on a sec, DON'T SHOOT-"

Malware ignored him as he quickly lined up and…

**BLLZZZYONG**

* * *

"What the hell was that?!" Uchiha asked angrily as he saw a beam of red energy shoot out from a building.

"Unfortunately, I think that was one of ours." Sasuke cringed.

"Hmph… the people are already starting to panic."

"That's not the worst of it. We just lost the element of surprise."

* * *

**"What?! Where the hell did he go?! I had him on my sights, and my scanners! I thought I hit him right in the head!"** Malware's gun arm turned into a clenched fist.

"If you had listened to me, you would have known that we are dealing with ninja! You know, substitution, walking on water, making illusions? Tricks up the sleeve are kind of their fucking thing!"

**"If you had informed me of that earlier, I could have accounted for that!"**

"Don't pin this on me, you're the one who jumped the gun!" Church stopped himself as he heard the people panic down below. "Damn it, we don't have time for this! I'm going down to Kuina and the others, meet us down there and see if you can spot the disappearing act! I have a feeling he's about to get more desperate."

Malware couldn't reply before Church had already gone. He slammed his fist on the edge of the roof. **"I know I hit him… how could he teleport like that?"** He zoomed in on the spot where his shot had hit… and noticed something next to the scorch mark where he had shot. A burnt path of cloth. **"Or perhaps he didn't…"**

* * *

"Damn it! People are scattering! What did you do?!" Shikamaru shouted, dropping the act.

"Don't look at us! We were just keeping watch!" Toph defiantly shouted back.

"Uh, Shikamaru? Why are you suddenly yelling at your escortees?" Naruto questioned.

"Not important. Let's just say they're undercover and leave it at that." He pointed at his friends. "I need most of you to guide any citizens out of here. Make sure they get to their homes, hotel rooms, whatever. Naruto, you're staying with me. Hinata, you stay too and use your Byakugan to look for any suspicious characters." Most of them nodded and leapt away. Hinata used some kind of handsign before glancing around the village.

Naruto got uppity about the sudden arrangement. "Hey, hold on, what do you need me to stay behind for?"

"Their undercover work involved someone after your head, now quiet down."

"Oh… wait WHAT?!" Naruto screamed, with Hinata even glancing at Shikamaru in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me that the moment you found out?!"

"It's complicated. And I really mean complicated."

Church appeared. "Toph! Kuina! Ashi! Malware fucked it all up!"

"GAH! Tiny ghost!" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. Boo, motherfucker. We've been there before." He turned back to the girls. "Malware found out how to track the assassin, but he shot at him before we could plan anything! Apparently, he just… disappeared after being shot."

Toph stomped her foot, sending vibrations throughout the town. "Great, now things just got more complicated."

"We can still salvage this." The group turned to see Sasuke leaping down with his doppelganger. "The assassin's main goal is still to kill Naruto. That means he'll try to attack any moment. All we need to do is intercept him."

"Sasuke? And… Sasuke?! Why are you back? Why are you using the clone jutsu?"

"He's not my clone. At least, not the traditional kind…" Uchiha replied, which only served to confuse Naruto more.

"I don't understand it fully either, Naruto." Sakura said, leaping down with several other village ninja. "As far as I can tell, that Sasuke came from some other world. He brought these girls and that blue armor ghost to help stop an attempt on your life."

"Ohhhhh. Classic parallel world scenario. I get it." Sakura's jaw dropped, stunned that he seemed to understand the situation. "Ah come on, Sakura. Haven't you ever seen a movie or read a comic book?"

"You idiot! Don't get smart with me! I'm usually the one who has to explain things to you!"

"Hey, Pinky, don't get upset just because hero boy knows more than you." Church piped up.

"You can shut it too, you blue pipsqueak!"

"Wow. Pipsqueak. My feelings. They hurt. Oh, so much. Doesn't anyone in this world know how to use a curse?"

"Uh, guys? There's someone approaching us. And they don't feel familiar." Toph noted.

A cloaked man was walking towards them, losing balance every now and then.

Ashi squinted. "Something's not right with him…"

One of the ninja that came with Sakura noticed something. "I think they've been injured… there's some kind of wound on their head. Hang on, Lady Sakura. I'll guide him over to you."

"A head injury? Wait…" Church looked closer at the individual. Sure enough, there was a hole in their cloak, right at the head. As if someone shot them. "Hold on… STOP! STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"

But it was too late. A black tendril flung out from the person's arm, striking the ninja. The poor man writhed in agony, before falling to the ground. His body had gone completely pale. He couldn't even scream… he only choked and gurgled before going silent.

"Shit…"

"Finally… I meet you at last, Uzumaki…" The man said in a growl.

Naruto got over the shock of the sudden death quickly. He glared at the new arrival. "Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"

"You… you killed our god, Naruto Uzumaki. Did you think we would forgive you for that? Did you think we would worship you in his place, you pretender?"

Naruto sighed. "These guys again…"

Ashi raised an eyebrow. "God?"

"A while back, Naruto fought a powerful terrorist known as Pain. His powers were so great that many in the Rain Village considered him godly. They didn't take his death all too well."

"Oh great. Cult fanatics." Church grumbled.

Naruto stepped forward. "I didn't kill Pain. We resolved things peacefully, and then he passed away. He died on his own terms."

"LIAR! I've had enough of your blasphemous presence, pretender god! Before you were too powerful to beat… but I received a gift from other gods… they gave me the ability to destroy you." Something moved under his cloak, before it burst open. The man had become nothing more than a mass blob, with tendrils moving about. _**"aNd NOw, yoU sHaLL mEEt YOUR DEMIIIIIIISE!"**_

If Church could puke, he would. "What in god's name is that thing?!"

Ashi stared at it. "It feels… oddly familiar to me." Church looked to her for an answer. "I'm sorry. It feels familiar, but I don't know what it could be."

"Whatever it is, it must be some kind of demon. If it was apparently made to fight Naruto, it's likely got firepower on its side. Hinata, can you tell us anything about its chakra flow? How potent is it?"

Hinata looked at it with her ocular abilities. "I… I don't see anything. Literally nothing. No chakra, no body, nothing. It's as if there's a blank spot in the world, just a mass of pitch black."

"What?" Shikamaru looked at her in surprise.

Kuina grunted. "That's encouraging."

"I've got this. He might be unsee-able to your eyeballs, but I can still feel the vibrations from his mass just fine." Toph cracked her neck as she prepared to fight the creature.

"Wait, no-" Unfortunately for Church, she was already rushing forward. "God damn it! Is this just "ignore Church" day?"

Toph set to work assaulting the creature with the very earth beneath it. Anytime the creature attempted to strike her down, she moved as if she could see it a mile away. Even as it tried to sweep her feet, she used the ground to flip and dodge the constant tendrils. The creature wasn't so lucky. Everywhere it moved, it was attack by the earth. Small boulders pelting its mass, the dirt shifting to make it lose its balance, the ground even opened up at one point to swallow the thing. But while Toph was successful in hitting the creature, hurting it was a different matter. No matter what the blind girl threw at it, the creature shrugged it off. The creature itself began to growl angrily, before sending out multiple appendages at Toph. Sensing the danger, Toph laid down on her back, allowing a cluster of rocks to form around her body- an armor. As she got back up, the tendrils hit her.

"No!" Church shouted out, only to stop in confusion as the rocks gave away, revealing nothing. He got any answer he needed when Toph dug out of the ground next to them a second later.

"Okay, maybe I don't got this. I don't think it's feeling a thing. It even feels like my earth-bending starts to lose power as I hit it. That armor especially shouldn't have crumbled so easily."

"If blunt force won't do it, maybe precision will get the job done." Kuina said as she used her thumb to slightly unsheathe her sword.

"Stop!" Church said, fully irritated. But Kuina was already in front of the creature. "Of course…"

The creature had turned its attention to Kuina, who had taken a stance holding her sword, barely moving. The creature thought this to be an easy target. It would soon be proven wrong. It threw its tendrils at the girl, ready to strike her down.

"Re-sheath Style…" The tendrils were right upon her.

They hit nothing.

"Death Lion's Song."

As Kuina appeared behind the creature, sliding her sword into its hilt, the creature roared as it was cut in several places. The gashes were deep, yet clean. The creature slammed one of its arms down on her, but she had already moved. Now, she was on a building beside the monster, her blade already unsheathed again. He glared as the creature was already reforming where she had sliced. Her blade became blackened as she imbued it with a spiritual energy from her own world, known as Haki. "Try this then. Swift Blade Style…" She began, before rapidly slashing faster than the eye could see. "THREE THOUSAND SLASHES!" The creature was once again sliced up, but it was mostly unbothered. "Damn. Guess cutting it really won't work."

Suddenly, a huge sense of dread came over her. Her Observation Haki began to go nuts. As if on instinct, she dropped her sword, letting it clang to the ground. Kuina had never let go of Wado Ichimonji in her life. Not since she was a child. And yet, as she stared at the sword now grounded next to her, she could only stare at it. She watched as the Haki she imbued into it did not fade as it usually did, but rather seemed to shrivel and tear, as if being burned away.

The creature attacked again. Kuina knew it was coming, but was frozen to the spot. She wanted to grab her sword, but of course, she couldn't grab her sword. But she couldn't simply leave her sword.

Out of nowhere, she was tugged out of harm's way. As she landed back on the ground, she found herself returned to the group. Another black tendril was wrapped around her waist, causing her to panic for a moment.

"Kuina! It's alright! It's just me!" Kuina looked back to find Ashi's arms had become pitch black tentacles, one of them holding the swordswoman. "It's just my powers. Remember when we clashed back in the desert?"

Kuina calmed down, the memory of clashing with a black axe hand in mind. She didn't have long to remain calm, as she noticed Ashi's other arm bringing back her sword. "Wait, Ashi, let go of my sword! There's something wrong with it!"

"I know. The moment I picked it up I could feel something had invaded the blade." Her arms receded, and the one holding Wado became a sharpened claw. With it, she tore a different black energy out of the sword, before crushing it in her hand. Ashi tossed the blade back to Kuina, her instincts no longer flaring in its presence. "That energy was a lot like my father's. Dark. Cold. Destructive."

"Would everyone just stop flinging themselves at the monster? We don't need this shit getting worse!" Church looked back at the monster. "I've been trying to find where this… thing came from. But it's hard to pinpoint. I'm not even sure what I should be looking for."

**"I believe I can answer that."** Malware said, landing in the middle of the group. At the same time, he released an energy from one of his hands that surrounded the monster, preventing it from going anywhere. **"I've been watching and collecting data as you all fought. I believe I know what we might be up against. There's a spot in my universe that is literally undead. It sucks the life out of anything that tries to live there, even beings that can warp reality. This isn't the same, but with its properties being so strange, I had to analyze it the same way I would that undead planet. Toph's earthbending losing power, Kuina dropping her sword out of instinct, those aren't coincidences. The moment the monster comes into contact with anything spiritual energy, it destroys that spirit and itself in the process. It even destroys the soul."**

Church grapsed his chin in thought. "Mutual annihilation. Like anti-matter… I get it now. Whoever created this guy, did so in a way so that he could kill Naruto specifically. The energy readings in tangerine boy over there are off the charts, so this guy's been stuffed with so much… "anti-spirit" that it would destroy all the chakra in his body. Even if it didn't kill his soul, these ninjas need their chakra to live. Losing all his chakra would kill him. It would destroy every jutsu that the ninja threw at it, and since it's still made of an energy, it won't be affected by physical attacks."

**"Indeed. Even I don't have anything in my arsenal that can fight something like this. Luckily, we now have our ace in the hole."** Malware gestured to Ashi. **"You can touch that thing, probably even hurt it, because of your powers."**

"I see. So we're not completely at a loss." Ashi said, shapeshifting her arm into a needle.

**"Not quite. While you can hurt the creature, it's not the same as when it touches chakra. From Kuina's attacks, I could tell it has regenerative abilities. A battle between you and it could go on forever… and cause a lot of destruction in the process. It may also try to escape if it realizes we can fight it. And we can't allow it to escape. The only way to truly diminish it… is to give it what it wants."**

All gasped at his suggestion. Sakura clenched her fist, getting up in Malware's face. "You're saying we just give this thing Naruto? Are you out of your mind?!"

Church sook his head. "No, no. That's not it. For once, Malware and I might be on the same page. It can't get the energy back that it uses to destroy chakra or spirit. If we feed it enough chakra attacks, it might become weak enough for Ashi to kill it."

**"It appears we truly are on the same page. However, it cannot just be anyone. Kuina would have to get far too close to the creature, and Toph's energies aren't potent enough to diminish it quickly. We would need someone with a continent's worth of spiritual energy."**

"Then that just leaves me." Sasuke volunteered. "I'll diminish the creature with my chakra. I was given a god's worth of chakra reserves in one of my previous battles. It should be enough. In the meantime, Toph and Kuina will push back any attempts it makes to escape or attack someone else."

"That I can do." Toph cracked her knuckles.

Kuina grinned. "I do know a ranged attack. I can keep at a safe distance."

Sasuke turned to Ashi. "Ashi, you stay back with Malware and be ready to strike when he says."

"Say the word." Ashi requested of Malware.

**"Just don't miss."**

"Church, you're with me. If anyone can find a trace of where that energy came from or who gave it to that man, it'll be you and the Tallus." He explained.

"Can do. Let's take this bitch out."

"Hnn." Sasuke confirmed. "Shikamaru, keep Naruto and any other ninja away. If that thing touches anyone, they're done for." Shikamaru nodded, before leading his friends away. "Malware, when I say so, drop that barrier."

The monster had been banging away at said barrier, trying to get out. It sneered at Sasuke as the ninja walked up to it.

"Let's try this one more time… NOW, MALWARE!" The shield dropped, and immediately the creature rushed forward. Sasuke stared at it with his red eye, before the monster burst into black flames. "Amaterasu!" Though it was surprised, the creature soon absorbed the flames undeterred, and kept moving toward the young man. But it was too slow. Sasuke easily dodged it before preparing his next attack. "Chidori!" Electricity formed in his hand before he shot it into the beast, becoming a massive blast of focused lightning.

"That's good! I'm already sensing decreased readings. It's been diminished by five percent. Let's keep it up!"

Sasuke conferred by summoning a massive surge of energy, which formed into a humanoid set of armor. "SUSANOO!" The armor created a crossbow in one arm, firing it at the anti-energy beast. The beast tried to lunge for Sasuke again, but even with Sasuke's increased surface area, it could not catch him. Susanoo fired off more arrows at the monster.

Although Sasuke seemed to be doing fine so far, Church noticed that Sasuke was beginning to sweat. His breathing was getting heavier. "You okay? You're not looking so good."

"No. I don't think I am. Hang on…" Sasuke suddenly threw a kunai knife into the ground below, before having his Susanoo ignite into flames, both orange and black. He lifted his hand into the air, summoning down a mass of lightning from the sky, which also coated the armor. Finally, he created a sword in his hand, pointing it at the creature. "Here goes… FIRE AND LIGHTNING STYLE: PIERCING SUSANOO!"

Suddenly, the armor flew forward, straight at the creature. Church was horrified. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Just trust me!" As the armor collided with the creature, it didn't take long for it to burst through the usually impenetrable armor.

"WE'RE FUCKED! FUCKED, FUCKED, FUCKED!"

"Not yet." Sasuke turned back and looked at the kunai in the ground. In an instant, Sasuke had replaced himself with the knife, letting the kunai take his place in the armor.

"What? Where? How?" Church asked in confusion. After a moment, he seemed to realize what had happened. "Okay. You can teleport. Would've been nice to know before you went kamikaze."

"How much have I destroyed?"

"Uh… let's see… twenty percent. So yeah, just keep it up and we should be fine."

"About that… I'm out of chakra."

"What?!" Church exclaimed. "I thought you said you had a god's worth of it!"

"I did. But I've already used up most of it with just those attacks. I poured everything I had into them."

"Fuck! There must be more energy condensed into it than we thought! What the hell are we supposed to do?"

Sasuke thought for a moment, thinking of anything they could do. An idea soon crossed his mind. "I know where I can refill, and then some. Tell the others to keep that thing at bay for a second. I'll be back in a second."

"Gotcha."

As Church disappeared, Sasuke leapt away to find his target. It wasn't long before he found them, having not gone too far from the battle. Naruto and Uchiha came to meet him as he jumped down.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked.

"I've already used up my chakra. That thing has more energy than we thought. I need a refill if I want to keep fighting that thing."

Uchiha understood. "So you came to Naruto."

"Not just him. You too. This thing's going to need a king god's ransom of chakra if I'm going to defeat it. And even that might not be enough. But it's the best we've got. So allow me to use my Rinnegan to absorb most of you chakra."

Naruto objected. "Hold on! You're already risking your life enough as is. Let us do the rest of the fighting for you."

"Indeed. It wouldn't be wise to keep fighting that thing on your own. The two of us can finish it off."

"NO!" Naruto and Uchiha were shocked at Sasuke's outburst. "The reason we were brought here isn't just because of Naruto's death. It's what it causes. You're not supposed to die here. If that thing kills you, the disruption in the timeline will shake the universe, even the entire multiverse apart. And that goes for you too, other me. Neither of you can get near that thing." He moved towards Naruto. "Please. I've already screwed up my own universe. I killed you at the Valley of the End and paid for it. My friends, my village, even my entire world went to ruin because of my actions. I already told myself I wouldn't let something like this happen to your world. Let me save this world."

Naruto stared at him somberly. The reveal that Sasuke had killed his counterpart didn't seem to faze him. In fact, he smiled at him, with a look of understanding. He raised his hand out. "Alright, Sasuke. Kick that thing's ass."

Uchiha stuck his hand out as well. "I didn't trust you at first. But you've more than proven that you've come with no malice. As well as the same kind of regrets that weigh me down. Take my power and protect this village."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "I think the monster coming to life was evidence enough, wasn't it?"

"Shut up and stop ruining the moment, idiot." Uchiha shot back. Both of them glared at each other as they shook hands with Sasuke. They felt their energy mostly ebb away as he absorbed the majority from the two. When he was done, both wobbled for moment, nearly falling to their knees. Fortunately, Sakura and Hinata were there to catch their partners.

"Thank you. Both of you. This will be over before you know it." Sasuke said as he left.

Back at the fight, Kuina and Toph were holding the thing in place. Toph had lifted large prisms of earth to smash the thing, while Kuina was using an ability of her own. Slicing into the air, she created a wave of pressure through her sheer strength alone.

"360 Caliber Phoenix!" The wave of pressure unleashed upon the monster, pushing it back.

If at any point they were forced into a compromising position, Malware and Ashi would assist, either shooting at the appendages or stretching to grab their allies, respectively. **"Where is that blasted ninja?"**

"He'll be here!" Church stated.

As if on cue, Sasuke appeared before them. His eyes were filled with fire. "Everyone! Get back!" Toph and Kuina heard and complied, retreating behind the ninja. As soon as they were behind him, Sasuke formed his Susanoo again. It looked far tougher this time. He summoned his sword, and poured every last reasonable amount of energy he had left into it. The blade crackled as became a pure sword of lightning, power emanating from it. The monster actually looked scared for once. It seemed to realize this would be too much energy to take.

"You can't stop yourself, can you? Coming into contact with chakra and other spiritual energies, destroying them… that's actually out of your control, is it?" The beast looked around, ready to try and escape. "No. There is no escape. You tried to kill my best friend. That kind of thing hurts a lot more people than you know. I should know." Susanoo got into striking position, wings growing out of its back. "Shall I show you just how much Pain it can cause?" What could be considered the creature's eyes widened in fear. Even if it could answer, it had no time to. Susanoo was upon it in very little time, stabbing it in an instant. "INDRA'S BLADE!" He teleported out of the armor once again using another kunai he had dropped.

All of them watched as the monster absorbed the Susanoo. It screeched out in horror. Sasuke was right… it couldn't stop. As it slowly shrank, Ashi readied her arm to strike.

She never got the chance. The creature kept on diminishing until it disappeared, not a trace of it left.

**"Hmm. Looks like you pumped more energy into it than you thought."** Malware noted.

"Regardless, that's the end of it." Ashi lowered her hand.

So it seemed… but there was a pit in Sasuke's stomach. Something wasn't right.

"Can't believe that thing didn't try to run or dodge. It just sat there and took it." Toph scratched her head.

Kuina shrugged. "Guess it figured it was doomed."

**"It was too big. Too volatile. It couldn't move efficiently in that form. Which was why it was so slow. It actually escaped me earlier because it was smaller. It didn't teleport, it just burrowed into the spot I shot off to another place."** Sasuke's eyes widened in terrifying realization. Looking at where the final strike had been, he noticed a lot of disturbed rock, where Toph had wielded the earth against the creature.

"Damn! It's still alive!"

"What?!" Church questioned in shock.

"It's going after Naruto, come on!" The group ran towards Naruto's location, hoping they could catch up in time. There Naruto was, unharmed. Sasuke knew the creature would attack at any moment.

"Naruto, watch ou-" He was too late. A humanoid form of darkness burst out of the ground, ready to kill Naruto. He reached for the man's throat…

…only to catch Sasuke's instead.

"SASUKE!" He heard Naruto shout.

"NO!" shouted Church as well.

The creature's face turned into that of surprise. It truly thought it had Naruto. "Thought you might have a trick up your sleeve… so I kept enough chakra for one last teleport. Sorry. Your mission failed." Sasuke, though in incredible pain, gave the thing a smug grin.

**"Kill it now, Ashi!"** Malware shouted.

Ashi was quick to draw, throwing forward her arm as a javelin, which pierced the creature. It screamed again as the lance grew beneath its body, multiple spikes bursting out. The spikes then curled in on it, as if claws were closing around it, before Ashi crushed it completely.

Malware quickly scanned around. **"Nothing. It's gone for real this time."**

"Damn it! Stay awake, Sasuke! We can fix this, but I need you to hold on!" Their attention was grabbed by Church, as he hovered over Sasuke's body.

Sasuke laid on the ground. He writhed in pain as the "anti-chakra" spread through his body. "Damn… never felt pain like this before…"

The others were slowly making their way towards the downed ninja. Sakura was the quickest to arrive. "Hang on, I can heal him!"

"No, stop!" Church moved in front of her. "No one with any kind of spiritual energy can touch him. If that stuff infects you, you can count yourself as good as dead. Ashi, you're the only one who can even lay a hand on him, see if you can remove that energy from his system."

Ashi quickly moved to Sasuke's side, her tendrils trying to keep him stable. "I'll try. But I've never done anything like this before with organics."

"Doesn't matter. If there's a chance to save him, we have to take it."

"Church… Church…"

"Stop talking, man. You got to save your energy. You'll be on your feet soon, just…"

"No… I can already see it with my eyes… it's too infused with my chakra. There's no way to remove it without killing me."

Ashi, tears treaming down her face, could do nothing but confirm. "He's… he's right. I keep trying to latch onto the anti-spiritual energy, but I keep taking his chakra with me! If I took it out of him, it would take all of his chakra as well… and it would kill him anyway. I… I can at least keep it from reaching his soul, but… I can't keep him from dying."

"For fuck's sake, man. You can't just give up like this. You remember what we talked about, right? Going around with a bunch of misfits and saving people? Saving entire timelines?! If you die here…"

"Then I'll die saving this timeline. It's more than I ever could have asked for… to make up for my sins…" He smiled at Church. "I can tell… you've lost people too, right? You'd think it gets easier… but it doesn't. It only gets harder. You and I both know that. That's why I know for sure you'll do your best to keep them safe. You might still lose people… but just keep trying. Keep trying to get these guys through in one piece."

Church shook his head, not noticing the fall of raindrops beginning to fall through his hologram. "I can look through the Tallus. I can find something that'll cure you in an instant. Just hang on for a little longer!"

"Speaking… of which…" He tried to remove the Tallus from his wrist. Unfortunately, he was so weak at this point that Ashi had to help him. "I trust whoever you decide to give this to… you may have a vulgar mouth… and an odd sense of humor… but there's a good heart in there." Church stared at him, unable to respond. Sasuke then looked over to his counterpart. "You… I can imagine you've probably had a crappy life. But speaking from… from experience… it could have been worse. Don't take… what you have… for granted." Uchiha only closed his eyes solemnly and nodded. Sasuke then turned to Sakura and Naruto, who could only stare in horror as he slowly died. "You both… I took you two for granted… lost both of you in the process… I know it doesn't count… for much… since you're not mine, but… I'm s-s-sorry."

"It's alright, Sasuke." Sakura looked at him with sad eyes.

"Don't worry about that now." Naruto added.

Sasuke chuckled and looked at the teammates he had only briefly known. "The rest of you… best of luck." The girls nodded. Toph and Kuina remained stoic. Ashi had only just stopped shedding tears. Malware glanced at him, not saying a word. Sasuke finally returned his gaze upon Church, who was now glitching out, struggling to find a way to stop this. "Church… Paradox said y-you were on the verge… of death, before he brought you here… what were you thinking about as you died?"

Church stopped mumbling to himself, looking at Sasuke, before glancing off to the side. "I thought about… how heroes in stories give their lives to save the day… and yet, they never know if they actually made a difference. They just… have to have faith." Church turned back to Sasuke. "Ain't that a bitch?"

Sasuke took this in, before giving one final smile. "Heh… sure is." And with that, Sasuke closed his eyes. His writhing stopped. And the last breath came like a whisper the rainstorm's winds. Church kept staring, before vanishing in a flash of light.

* * *

It was hard to take their minds off of what had just happened. It was only their first mission, and yet they had already lost someone. Church had reappeared a few hours later and decided to talk to Kakashi about the incident. Nobody spoke until Church's hologram had come back to them from the Hokage's office.

Even then, he didn't say anything at first. Not until he knew he had all of their attention. "First of all, Kakashi would like to thank us for protecting his student and his village. However, they'd like to keep details of this attack under wraps so as to not confuse and panic the public. Secondly, they're going to take Sasuke's body, so they can effectively keep his eye powers under lock and key. Other Sasuke even asked to bury him here in the Uchiha compound. That way, at least he and his friends can honor his sacrifice that only they know occurred. I agreed because I know no one is waiting for him back in his home dimension." He looked at the Tallus, which was currently in the hands of Ashi. "Finally, the Tallus is telling me that we'll be transported to the next world after we receive a visit from Paradox. That could be any moment now. For the time being, I'd say Kuina will wield it for now, until I see a reason for someone else to have it." They gave a curt nod in response. "Let's make something clear, though. That wasn't the worst it could have gotten. If it wasn't for Sasuke, that could've easily ended up as a complete and total loss. Not just the universe… we all could've died. I'll take responsibility for my part. I should've planned better, I should've taken note of what you guys could do, and I should've warned you all about the abilities of the people here." Malware knew who he was addressing in the last example. "But the rest of you also have to do your part from here on out. No more lone wolf crap. We work together as a team, or else we're gonna start dropping like flies. And just in case any of you think you can prove me wrong? Let's put it into perspective… as I look into Sasuke's record, he had the ability to teleport, summon meteors, destroy mountains and summon a nearly impenetrable armor to protect him. Might as well have been a fucking god." He moved up to Malware's face. "He was arguably the most powerful person in this group. Not only that, he had the homefield advantage… he was in familiar territory. But he still lost his life. If you don't want to work together, that's fine. But I can guarantee that solo act shit will cost you."

Malware looked at him, as Church stared back. Surprisingly, Malware agreed with the artificial intelligence. **"…You are right. As much as it irks me to say, I had no efficient means of putting down that creature. It seems I did not take this as seriously as I should. This journey is a last chance, but it is clearly not an easy one. As long as none of you jeopardize my life, I'll try to play nicer from now on."**

Church turned to the rest of them. "Good. Hopefully we're all on the same page now. We're probably going to find ourselves going through strange world after strange world. Even if we come across worlds that have been parallel to ones we've already visited, there's no guarantee it'll operate on the rules we know from our last visit. But none of you will be able to go home again unless we go into that unfamiliar territory. Until we can fix your damaged timelines, you're outcasts in every dimension… and I can't go back until I know you guys can make it without me. Until we get to that point… we're all Exiles."

All four nodded silently in agreement, eyes filled with a new resolve.

"A wonderful speech." They heard a familiar British accent, and found Paradox sitting in a nearby chair, waiting for them. "The Tallus contacted me. I'm terribly sorry for your loss."

Church hovered over to him in an instant. "Before we say anything else… did you know this would happen?"

Paradox gave him a somber look. "Outright? Specifically? No. I assumed you would run into such a tragic situation; it was inevitable when it came to travelling into universes that weren't your own. But once I plucked you from your timelines, once I stopped your personal clocks, I could no longer see what laid in your futures. There's no telling what may happen. I had hoped you would not suffer tragedy so soon, however."

Church sighed. "Alright then. So, what are you actually here for? I assume there's no way you can save Sasuke now."

"Yes, I'm afraid. As I said before, if you die in one of these universes, it will remain as your permanent fate. There's nothing I can do for Sasuke, besides taking his body back. Although, I have already found out about you allowing the village to keep his body. Something I'm also afraid is not possible."

"What? Why?!" Toph angrily questioned.

"Sasuke's body still does not belong here. It could cause damage to this world if it stays for too long. I will see what I can do to compromise, but it is likely I will have to take it back to his home."

"Damn. Time seems to be one harsh mistress." Kuina grumbled.

"Indeed. But even that is not the main reason why I am here. I have come with your new teammate."

"New teammate?" Church asked.

"You were not the only ones whose timeline was disrupted. There are many more out there who must be given the chance to fix their timelines. As each of you succeeded or… not, your spot would be taken by the next being that needed that chance." He stepped aside to reveal the new member. "And as such, I've brought that being here."

"Wh…what?" Ashi said in shock.

Toph rubbed the back of her head. "Hoo boy. This just keeps going off the deep end."

Kuina shook her head. "This can't be right."

Malware sighed. **"You've got to be kidding me."**

"Paradox, what the hell is this?!" Church asked, completely bewildered.

Before them stood a young girl, likely no older 11. She wore a silver armor of some kind and held a bo staff in her hand. Most odd was the line of magenta that streaked through her black hair. Her knees were shaking intensely; she was obviously nervous, if not scared out of her mind about the situation. "H…H-h-hi there. Uhm… my name… my name is Juniper Lee."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, would you look at that! I crossed over one of Judd Winick's creations, with another! Yep, Judd Winick was the creator (or at least was the first lead writer) of Marvel's Exiles up until issue 26, and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee was also his work.
> 
> I'll try to keep a more consistent schedule, but adult life is starting to catch up to me. See you when I see you.

**Author's Note:**

> And there’s introductory/prologue chapter!  
> Expect the unexpected in this story. Any fictional universe can be explored, any alternate timelines of those universes can be presented, even fanfiction universes (with proper permission)! 
> 
> Next time, we’ll see just what the Exiles’ mission is, and just how Sasuke feels being in this world much like his own.


End file.
